Sunday, June 29, 2014

Those lovely jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq as part of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have just nominated their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as "the caliph" and "leader for Muslims everywhere." Yes, Muslims finally have that caliphate so many have dreamed of since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s.

"The Shura [council] of the Islamic State met and discussed this issue [of the caliphate] ... The Islamic State decided to establish an Islamic caliphate and to designate a caliph for the state of the Muslims," said ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.

"The jihadist cleric Baghdadi was designated the caliph of the Muslims," said Adnani.

Baghdadi "has accepted this allegiance and has thus become the leader for Muslims everywhere."

"The words 'Iraq' and 'the Levant' have been removed from the name of the Islamic State in official papers and documents," Adnani said, describing the caliphate as "the dream in all the Muslims’ hearts" and "the hope of all jihadists."

Ever since the Prophet Muhammad’s death, a caliph was designated "the prince" or emir "of the believers.”

On Friday, seven members of Muafia's family, including her father Dilshad alias Kulla, uncle Ghulam Husain, Shamshad, Afzaal Husain and Bashiran Bibi, stormed into house of the newly-weds in Hasanabad, bundled them into a van and took them to an outhouse at Satrah.The suspects tied up the legs and arms of Sajjad and Muafia and cut off their heads with choppers in public but nobody dared stop them, the FIR said. The suspects fled from the village after the incident.Sajjad's family told Dawn the couple had come into contact several months ago and wanted to get married but Muafia's parents didn't agree to her marriage with Sajjad which led to their love marriage. They said the couple was issued threats by the girl's family.Police handed over the bodies to Sajjad's family after autopsy at Daska Civil Hospital. They were laid to rest amid police security.

Poor old Kim Jong-un. North Korea's joke-of-a-president is being lampooned in the latest Seth Rogen James Franco comedy "The Interview" (opening in the fall), and he's madder than heck. In fact, the DPRK foreign ministry claims the movie is an act of war, and has vowed "merciless" retaliation if it's released.

Apparently the characters of Franco and Rogen, a talk show duo, are sent on a mission to North Korea to assassinate the dear leader.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

I admit, I once played a Blueberry for some promotional gig. It was hotter than hades inside that contraption of a costume, and being pushed and shoved by kids was not worth the paltry sum I received for the job. As actors, we've all subjected ourselves to humiliation for some extra bucks. But Pakistani Murad Ali's paying gig is probably the most humiliating and bizarre I've ever heard of. Murad plays a "mythical half-fox, half-woman creature" at the Karachi Zoo (see photo above) for the better part of the day. He inherited the part from his daddy Mumtaz Mahal after the man passed away 16 years ago.

Murad Ali, impersonates a woman with a fox carcass apparently attached to his head, saying (Urdu): "The visitors go away happy. And knowing that they feel happy makes me happy too. There is a bond of love between me and them. Life is very short; it should be spent spreading smiles."And Mumtaz isn't just a pretty face - for 12 hours a day, the mythical creature offers insights about wide ranging topics - from marriage advice to school tests.Mohammad Osama, sixth grade student, saying (Urdu): "I feel good. I had a nice talk with her. I'm really happy."

If you're ever in Karachi you too can get sage advice from Murad for a mere 10 U.S. cents.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Video compilation of Iran's President Hassan Rohani talking about the threat of terrorism from the likes of ISIS, though he doesn't specifically mention the group, and how they will help Iraq if asked.

Interesting to note: he refers to a "certain group" (Iranian hardliners, one would assume) as still thinking in "Stone Age terms." And mentions that if Iranians want the world to speak to them courteously, they must speak courteously to the world.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Was amazed to read in the paper this morning that Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian woman who was sentenced to death for apostasy, had been released. World outrage usually relegates victims of barbaric Shariah law to years languishing in jail, like Asia Bibi, the Christian Pakistani woman who was imprisoned in 2010 after being sentenced to death for blasphemy.

It turns out Ibrahim was re-arrested at the Khartoum airport along with the rest of her family.

About 40 security agents detained Mrs Ibrahim - along with her husband, Daniel Wani and two children - at the airport, the sources said.A top Sudanese official has told the BBC she would be freed "soon".Abdullahi Alzareg from the ministry of foreign affairs told the BBC's Newshour programme that Mrs Ibrahim had been arrested because she did not have the correct travel documents.Although she is Sudanese, she was using emergency South Sudanese papers with a US visa, he said.She would be asked to get a passport and exit visa on her release, he added.

It appears the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) was not happy with the appeal court's decision.

U.S. Naval Petty Officer Matthew Hindes won full custody of his young daughter Kaylee in 2010. Child Protective Services actually removed the child from Hindes' ex-wife Angela due to neglect. He is now remarried and the young girl is living with her step-mother Benita-Lynn in Washington state while Hindes is serving aboard a submarine in the Pacific Ocean. In spite of the fact that he is out of the country on a ship in the middle of the ocean, Michigan Circuit Court Judge Margaret Noe has said that if Hindes does not appear in court this coming Monday, he will lose custody of the child.

He should be protected by the Service Members Civil Relief Act, but Noe doesn't seem to care. She believes:

“If the child is not in the care and custody of the father, the child should be in the care and custody of the mother.”

According to Benita-Lynn, Noe has also ordered an arrest warrant for Hindes if he does not appear.

This is one judge who needs to step down. You can help by signing a petition demanding Noe's resignation.

Friday, June 06, 2014

Saudis are banned from watching movies and have been for about three decades or so. I suppose viewing them is un-Islamic because, you know, movies existed back in Mohammad's day, and it explicitly states in the Quran: "Thou shalt not watch movies. They are very evil." Actually, Saudis are allowed to rent films and watch television, though I would assume in an extremely censored manner. It's movie theatres that the hardliners have a problem with. I mean, God forbid genders should mix.

But Saudis really love their movies, so even though it's banned in the Kingdom, Saudis will actually travel hundreds of miles to neighbouring Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait to watch films there. They will even buy a plane ticket and fly there, spending around 1 billion per annum in Bahrain alone. How's that for idiocy or hypocrisy or whatever you want to call it. That's 1 billion that's not being spent in Saudi Arabia.

Apparently 85% of moviegoers in Bahrain are Saudis.

I remember reading an article several years ago (no longer online), that stated that some of those who were most fiercely opposed to opening cinemas in Saudi Arabia because it "contributes to the rise of violence, encourages promiscuity and moral depravity," could be found sitting in the front row of cinemas in Bahrain. And according to that article by Al-Riyadh, one of those bearded Saudi critics, that same conservative who complained about the negative influence of films, loves the violent ones. He was about to watch Saw VI, "..because there are many sequences of endless violence and blood!"

There is change in the wind, however. Saudis might not have to drive to another country to watch the latest film. According to Al Arabiya:

An investor has officially requested a license from the Saudi General Commission of Audiovisual Media to establish cinemas in the country, a local business website reported Tuesday.

The commission did not object to the idea in principle, and asked the investor to submit a study of the planned project, Maaal reported. [snip]

If the commission thinks the investment is feasible, it could ask higher authorities to clear the way for movie theaters nationwide, sources reportedly said.

“The commission is communicating with the investor about this issue. It’s in itself a big step forward,” Mutlaq al-Buqami, editor-in-chief at Maaal, told Al Arabiya News.

Of course, it probably will take another three decades before it actually happens, but there is hope for the Saudi cinemaphiles.

It appears the Sudanese woman who has been sentenced to death for apostasy was turned in by her own brother who believes she "should be executed" if she doesn't convert back to Islam.

Al-Samani al-Hadi told CNN that he handed his sister over to the authorities because his family are “Muslim people,” and that she should “repent.”

“It's one of two; if she repents and returns to our Islamic faith and to the embrace of our family then we are her family and she is ours,” he said.

“But if she refuses she should be executed,” he said.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim was born to an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian mum and a Sudanese Muslim father. After the dad abandoned the family, Meriam was raised as a Christian. She is also married to a southern Sudanese Christian man who happens to be a U.S. citizen.

Proving just how unfair Islam is, Muslim men are allowed to marry women of any faith, on the other hand Muslim woman are only allowed to marry Muslims.

Thursday, June 05, 2014

There are several crowdfunding sites that allow people to raise money for a variety of projects. The two most notable are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. I just assumed that anyone who had a project they wanted to bring to life could simply set up an account and then work their butts off to reach their monetary goal. Apparently not so, at least with Kickstarter. There's some major censorship going on over there.

Remember Kermit Gosnell, the doctor who ran a cash-cow abortion house of horrors where, for decades, he killed thousands of babies in late-term abortions, but was only convicted of murdering three infants that were born alive? By severing their spinal chords? The trial was essentially ignored by most of the mainstream media, so some conservative filmmakers decided to seek funding through Kickstarter for a TV drama about Gosnell's heinous deeds, so producer Phelim McAleer (of FrackNation fame) set up an account. However, Kickstarter wanted to censor some of the campaign language used to describe Gosnell's crimes, like:

"1000s of babies stabbed to death" and "1000s of babies murdered"

According to Kickstarter staff, those phrases did not

"comply with the spirit of Community Guidelines."

But Gosnell did murder thousands of babies. So rather than cave to Kickstarter's censorship, McAleer and his partners switched to Indiegogo, raising a whopping $2.25 million, far surpassing their initial goal.

After much criticism regarding how the Gosnell movie was handled, Kickstarter has changed some of its policies. CEO Yancey Strickler wrote:

We want creators to have the support and freedom they need when building their projects. That’s why we’re introducing a feature called Launch Now. It gives creators a simple choice: go ahead and launch your project whenever you’re ready, or get feedback from one of our Community Managers first.

Only 60 percent of projects can use the Launch Now Program, but that's set to increase soon.

McAleer and co are happy about the changes, but not totally convinced things will change.

"It's a sign that maybe diversity is now being welcomed at Kickstarter. It was a huge shock that they tried to censor the truth about our project because it might have offended some of their audience."

"It's not clear if Kickstarter are still retaining the option of closing down campaigns they don't like after the launch - or if the campaigns post something they don't like in updates. They threatened that with us also - it's a huge threat to any campaign and is an effective way of enforcing censorship."

Even though the Indiegogo campaign has ended, they are still looking for money. If you have some extra cash, you will still be entitled to perks. You can check it out on the "Gosnell" movie website.

Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Both Democrats and Republicans have been fair game over at the satire publication Mad Magazine. They skewered Sarah Palin back in 2009, this time they've targeted Barack Obama's decision to trade 5 Taliban terrorists for one alleged deserter/possible traitor Bowe Bergdhal.

Sunday, June 01, 2014

There are some incredibly bizarre laws and rules in Islam including breastfeeding. Apparently, if a woman breastfeeds a child that is not hers, she is then considered the mother of that child, and if she has children of her own, they are all considered siblings and are not allowed to marry. This Islamic law has reared its ludicrous head in Saudi Arabia where a couple has been forced to divorce after 25 years of marriage, and seven children later. Somehow it was discovered that both the husband and wife had suckled the breast of the same woman when they were babies.

Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Asheikh, the Saudi Grand Mufti gave the go ahead for the divorce.

So it's okay to marry a first cousin (it happens all the time in the Middle East), but not okay to marry a non-relative who has been breastfed by the same mother.